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Friday, September 6, 2013

Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pages: 336pgs

The Story

Lucy’s Chantress magic will make her the most powerful—and most hunted—girl in England.

“Sing, and the darkness will find you.” This warning has haunted fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now it is 1667, Lucy is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on the wind. She can’t help but sing—and she is swept into darkness.

When she awakes in England, Lucy hears powerful men discussing Chantresses—women who can sing magic into the world. They are hunting her, but she escapes and finds sanctuary with the Invisible College, an organization plotting to overthrow the nefarious Lord Protector. The only person powerful enough to bring about his downfall is a Chantress. And Lucy is the last one in England.

Lucy struggles to master the song-spells and harness her power, but the Lord Protector is moving quickly. And her feelings for Nat, an Invisible College apprentice and scientist who deeply distrusts her magic, only add to her confusion . . .

Time is running out, and the fate of England hangs in the balance in this entrancing novel that is atmospheric and lyrical, dangerous and romantic.

The Review

I must admit, the cover for this book is what caught my eye when I first saw it. But once I began reading the description and realized it was historical fiction blended with some fantasy elements in-between, I knew I could not pass this baby up and I'm glad I didn't because it was actually a pretty good read for the most part.

CHANTRESS is the kind of story that asks you the one question of, "What would life be like without music?", and I know for certain that I would definitely die if we didn't have music let alone not be able to sing along to music by yourself whenever you may be. And I think I'm not alone there. But for our main character, Lucy, she cannot sing a single word in fear that something bad will happen to her. At least that is what people keep on telling her. But once she escapes from an island that she was stuck on for quite some time (a really interesting turn mind you) and soon arrives at her old hometown of England, Lucy soon discovers she possess mysterious powers and could quite possibly save the world from utter darkness.

First of all, I have to say I really enjoyed the characters in this book, especially Lucy for obvious reasons including she's strong, possesses some cool powers and not to mention tells the tale in an unique and fascinating way. Even the supporting characters who'd played smaller roles in the book were such a great addition to the cast and the book - in particular the character Nat whom I wished I saw more of, so it'll definitely be interesting to see how the author will continue the story with those all those characters and what other parts they have to play because I still have plenty of questions by the end of this book regarding all of those characters, especially when it comes to Lucy's future and her new potential Chantress powers. They were just so interesting to read about!

Now regarding the plot, while the pace was slow at first, but on a whole I think the author did a really great job in plotting every single detail possible to the storyline and developed them as much as she could for the story and its characters, so I applaud her for that part. On another side note, I was also happy with the storyline itself which was both original and unique, and I do certainly hope there is a sequel in the works right now because I don't think I'm ready to leave this world just quite yet so fingers crossed a sequel is coming our way soon!

Overall, CHANTRESS was a delightful read and fans of the fantasy and historical genre will most definitely come to love this special little unique tale it offers.

2 comments:

Loving the sound of this one! I really don't know what I'd do without music... It would be a depressing world! Glad to hear you liked the supporting characters - I think they're really important and hate it when authors just chuck them in randomly for no reason. Fab review, thanks! :)